The Park
by LivelyStevens
Summary: Lucy tells Danny she's too old for the park. His little girl is growing up too fast.


I tried to take my little boy to see the toy story double feature this evening and the story below was the result. Needless to say, we didn't make it though all the movies. Just a little one-shot.

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"Hey, I didn't expect to see you for at least another hour or so." Lindsay greeted when Danny and Lucy returned from the park.

"It was such a nice day that the park was packed. He said after his five year old daughter disappeared into her room. "How was work?"

"Long and never a dull moment, when you head in, Mac has a list of stuff for you to do. I started a few tests before I left and you need to look over the results."

"Yeah." He was still looking down the hall and his words were hollow. "I'll go start getting ready and head in a bit early since our day at the park was cut short."

"That might be good."

His slumped form slouched down the hall. Something was wrong and whatever it was happened while they were at the park because he was in a great mood when they left. Hearing the water turn on in the shower, she went straight to the only person who would share the real answer.

Lucy was in her room surrounded by her Barbies and their entire spring wardrobe which had been provided lovingly by her wonderful aunts and uncles. The room was perfectly spotless ten minutes ago but now it was littered with tiny shirt and pants, plastic boots and shoes. Lindsay watched from the doorway as her daughter, the hair stylist, tried to have her doll's hair stay in a ponytail.

"Hey Luce, how was the park?"

"Okay."

"Did you see Aaron?" Lindsay started pulling names from her memory of the kids she heard Danny and Lucy tell her about.

"Nope."

"How about Joey?"

"He wasn't there."

"What about Jennifer?"

"Nope."

"Well, who did you see?"

"Nobody really."

"You didn't know any of the other kids?"

"What other kids?"

Lindsay was confused, but she didn't want to call attention to the fact that Danny had lied in front of their five year old daughter. "Why did you come back from the park so quickly?"

"I told Daddy that I wanted to play with my dolls and not play at the park, the park is for little kids and I'm gonna be a kindergarten big kid."

"So you told Daddy you didn't want to go to the park anymore?"

"No, I told him that I didn't _need_ to go to the park anymore. All my big girl stuff is here at home."

The pieces were starting to fall into place. The early arrival home, his slouched posture, volunteering to go into work early, all of it pointed to the fact that his little girl was growing up and she was out growing him. Going to the park was their thing. It started during his physical therapy after the shooting. Lindsay went with him the first few times just to make sure he was okay on his own. The used the stroller as a makeshift walker. He took off without her one day and it had been just he and Lucy ever since.

The walk evolved one day when he stopped and put her in the swing. He pushed her she squealed with delight. Lindsay thought that he took the walks to push himself and heal more quickly, but one day she followed them and heard her laughter float across the park. It evolved further with a trip down the slide. She started making little playground friends who she started telling stories about and making up games with.

Their walks happened two or three times a week and lasted for at least an hour. The only reason they wouldn't go would be rain or very cold temperatures. Danny always was excited to go and looked forward to the time he spent with her.

Lindsay felt the full force of what happened and couldn't imagine what Danny was going through. She pushed away from the door and went down the hall to their bedroom when he disappeared into it.

"Lots of kids at the park, huh?" It was said quietly enough to give him a hard time about lying but also light enough to convey that she knew the whole story.

"She's too big for the park, what five year old is too big for the park?" The emotion was so raw that she could sense the tears were just under the surface.

"One whose father is not ready for her to be too big for the park."

"But that's our thing."

"So, find a new thing."

"But I love the park. It's got the great swings and the giant slide and the monkey bars. She fell and broke her arm of those monkey bars last year and couldn't wait for Sid to take the cast off so that she could get back up on those things and go across them again."

"I know."

"I didn't know if I was ready to be a father when you told me that you were having my baby, but now I know that I am not ready for her to be too big for the park." She hugged him from behind and her arms held his naked torso to her chest as he sat on the edge of the bed. It felt good, but it did not stop time. "Have you thought about us having another one?"

"That one will grow up too, and I'm going to get too old or we're going to be too broke to keep a baby in this place."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, but I'd like to talk about having another baby in the near future."

"I've been thinking about it recently too. I think we should talk about it. But you need to hustle, being early is out of the question, let's work on getting you there on time." His shoulders rose and fell with the large breath that filled his lungs and then escaped. "You gonna be alright?"

"Yeah, I just gotta find a new thing and talk you into having another baby."

"No, first you need to get to work."

**

"Mac, Linds said you got a list of thing for me to do?" Danny caught him in the hall.

"Oh, yeah…Um look over the test results that were left of your desk and then come find me."

"Sure thing boss."

The test results caught his attention immediately because it was not a print out, it was the actual test, a pregnancy test, that had come out positive. No paper work came with it. He went looking for Mac and found him in the break room.

He didn't even look up when Danny entered. "Did you find those test results that Lindsay left for you?" The paper still held his attention and he took a sip of his coffee.

"Lindsay left them…"

"Yeah, said she wanted you to see them."

"Not that we haven't heard about it." A firm hand landed on his shoulder. "Congratulations." Flack added.

"Yeah, she must have thought you did pretty well with the first one that she's going to let you have another." Stella followed with.

"You can name this one Mac." Adam nervously sputtered when he entered.

"I'm partial to Sheldon."

"We will even be able to take him to the park." A little voice from the back stated. The group parted and Lucy walked through wearing an "I'm going to be a big sister" shirt.

"Hey kiddo, how'd you get here?" Stella wondered out loud.

"I rode the train, silly."

"By yourself?"

"Danny Messer, I may be pregnant, but I'm not crazy. She won't do that for another two or three years." Lindsay showed herself.

"You're pregnant."

"That's what the test said."

"You're having my baby…again."

"Yes."

"Fantastic."

"And we can take walks and go to the park." Lucy spoke up again.

"That's even better."

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Let me know. I fed you, now feed me back.


End file.
